I’m here with my esteemed guest, Detective Masato Takahashi of the National Police Association of Japan. I’m fortunate to have nabbed an interview with this elusive man who not only heads the Bureau’s international Narcotics and Organized Crime division, but also has received numerous awards and citations for his work.

I was able to sit down with the detective for a short thirty minutes on one of his rare trips to America during his layover in Connecticut. I have to say I was a momentarily awed when he appeared at the corner booth of the French café I’d chosen for the interview. The man is a dead ringer for handsome Chinese model Hao Yunxiang. Well except the detective has unusually direct whiskey-toned eyes, which bored into me when I failed to return his greeting. Flustered at my breach in etiquette, I quickly bowed, invited him to sit down and turned on my recorder. While he poured a cup of the earl grey tea I had offered, I broached my first question.

"Thank you detective for agreeing to this interview on such short notice. I hear you come from a long lineage of policemen. From what I understand, most all the men in your family have worked in the Homicide division of the NPA. What made you choose to work Narcotics and Organized Crime? Did it have anything to do with your mother, her death?"

“What do you know of my mother’s death?”

"Well, isn’t it true that she and your father met when he rescued her from a Yakuza operated host bar whose head turned out to be the murderer known as The Butcher? That she’d been forcibly addicted to heroin and your father--"

"I didn’t agree to do this interview to have my past dragged into the light. Is this really the kind of thing your readers want to hear about? If so I apologize, I have no intention of talking about my parents. If you’d done your homework you would know that I haven’t spoken with my father for years."

"I- I apologize, I had no idea. Look I’m sorry, let’s start again. I’ve learned that you are childhood friends with Sensei Ichiro Kimura of the Japan’s leading martial arts dojo’s The Kimura School. Sensei Kimura runs the American branch right here in Connecticut. I’ve tried to get an interview with him, but he’s turned me down repeatedly. Are the two of you still close? Do you visit him when you come to America? Do you perhaps spar together?"

"Yes, Jiro and I met in high school in Japan. He enrolled in my school during my senior year when I was the captain of martial arts club. When I learned he was of The Kimura School, I feared he would replace me as captain, but we became friends instead."

"Jiro?"

"Hai, that is what his family and close friends call him."

"So you are very close then. I’ve met him sociably… he’s really quite beautiful, um, well, I mean his appearance is not quite what I expected given his reputation. Is he really as good as they say … his martial skill, I mean?"

"Ichiro is a good deal better than his reputation. He excels in Shotokan, Kyudo, Judo and Wing Chun and has considerable expertise on a number of other martial disciplines, many involving weapons. He has been training formally in martial arts since he was five-year–old. Do we spar? Yes, occasionally."

"Is it true that he once broke your nose?"

"You spar… these things happen."

"As I said he is really gorgeous… and apparently… deadly. I’ve heard that the two of you were once an item. Is that just a rumor or were the two of you intimately involved?"

"Where are you getting your information? Yes, we were once involved. Yes he is beautiful, but if you think that is all there is to him…well you are wrong. Ichiro is … complicated. His appearance is a mere reflection of his true beauty and strength. I thought this interview was about me?"

"Yes, yes it is. I understand you’re hot on the trail of the elusive vigilante known as Yoshiro Tanaka? Now my research reveals that he’s a criminal that goes after other criminals… the worst of them supposedly. Why on earth would you want to arrest someone who … well, it seems to me he’s helping the police…"

"You said it yourself… the man is a criminal. He’s a vigilante. Worse, he’s smart, really smart, something of a criminal mastermind actually. He’s used his intelligence to coax others to follow in his footsteps. So yes, we must capture him.An entire organization of vigilantes? What message is that giving to the ordinary citizen? That the police can’t do their job? That going after a criminal on your own is acceptable? No, that type of behavior is dangerous, unacceptable and irresponsible. Yoshiro Tanaka and his organization must be captured and I intend to do just that."

"I had no idea ... he heads a vigilante organization? How big is it? How long has it been operating? Do they kill people? How long have you been chasing him down?"

"All of that is confidential information. But rest assured I am even now making plans to close down the Tanaka Group. Yoshiro Tanaka’s days are numbe--"

"Oh... I’ll get that … answer your phone."The detective has knocked over the remnants of the teapot in his haste to answer his phone… Hmmm, it must be a Japanese model I’ve never seen a phone quite like it… very metallic and sleek. Oh… he’s hung up."Your sleeve …did you--"

"It’s fine. I apologize; for I must end this interview early, it seems there has been a development in the case I am currently working. I hope you have enough information for your readers."

"Oh, I understand … I’m disappointed, but I ‘m sure my readers will be delighted with what you have graciously shared. Thank you so much for meeting with me; I’ll send you a link to the post when it is out. If you like it, could you perhaps put in a good word to Ichiro Kimura for me? And of course best of luck capturing Yoshiro Tanaka."

"Ichiro is his own man, but yes I will speak with him if your report proves accurate."

Detective Takahashi says nothing more and is quickly striding toward the restaurant exit giving me one final intense stare over his shoulder. I almost follow him having recalled I’d forgotten to ask him about Kiyoshi Kimura, Sensei Kimura’s reclusive cousin. But I simply watch him, admiring his panther-like stroll as he slips into the early morning pedestrian traffic.Honestly readers, Detective Takahashi is a rather intimidating man and I should not like to be Yoshiro Tanaka when the detective catches up with him. I would not mind being Ichiro Kimura though. To be beneath the passionate gaze of those whiskey eyes for just a moment, must be thrilling indeed.

The above is an interview with one of the lead characters in artist and author, Alex A. Akira’s Dojo Boys series. This exciting yaoi-romance-meets-action-adventure series relays the story of a vigilante-founded espionage organization and the love lives of its agents. Dojo Boys: Dragon & Crow contains the first two volumes of this thrilling and explicit series and focuses on the romance between Michael Black, a twenty-three–year old Native American graphic artist and Kiyoshi Kimura a mysterious, but gifted nineteen-year-old of Japanese –Korean descent.